Tag Archives: correspondence

“I am going to wear this sweater every day for the rest of my life. Like, thanks, because this is the sweater I’m going to be wearing in my grave.”

This is what I said, ecstatically, after I found this surprise spread out on my bed along with some barbecue potato chips and a love note last night. It’s a pristinely-stored, brand-new-looking sweater from Mishka’s Fall 2008 collection that depicts the band KRAFTWERK on the front, and it is my new favorite thing of all time. Wait, is it possible to have a “new” favorite thing of all time? That seems off, so I guess it’ll just have to be my regular favorite thing of all time, then. I love Mishka so much, especially when its designers use New Eras, sweaters, etc. as a medium for celebrating other artists, as with their totally mind-blowing Psychic TV capsule from earlier this year. Anyway, sweaters (whether they’re Mishka or otherwise) are always good gifts, especially when they come as surprises. God, how fucking twee does that sound? It’s true, though.

The most surprising sweater I’ve received was given to me last year, beginning when I got a phone call from an unknown number. Instead of hearing an automated Time Warner survey on the other end, which is what usually happens when I get unmarked calls, a questioning (and decidedly human) female voice said, “Amy Rose?” It was a girl named Lisa, she said, and we had met at a party a little over two years ago. According to her, I had waxed rapturously about the sweater she had on and we had spent the whole night talking and making plans to play music the next week. Given my terrible memory, I had no idea who she was. Despite my complete confusion as to our supposed conversation, she had had an idea that she wanted to follow through with: “I think I’ve had enough time with this sweater. You really loved it, and wouldn’t stop talking about it, so could I send it to you?” The next thing I knew, I had a glittery yellow sweater with what looked like a pencil-sketch of a lion face on it in my bedroom, along with this card:

Can we just pretend that those leopard nails belong to Quinn, whose face is peeking over this note, and not me?

It reads:

“Dear Amy Rose,

Here you have this sweater from days of yore – 2 years ago about – and I hope you still like it a lot! If not, a present for an unexpecting 3rd party. I hope you wear it on many good days + in many good spirits, and with the ferocity of the sparkle-lion…I always thought it was like its wearing disco armor. Anyway! ENJOY!

All good things to you,

–Lisa–”

I do love the sweater, so much, but you can see why I love Lisa herself more, even if I’ll never have a clue as to who she is. What a totally lovely thing to do, huh? I’ll have to surprise someone with a sweater soon myself – otherwise, it seems imbalanced that I’ve been so lucky in receiving not only cozy portraiture of German ’80s musical icons, but completely unexpected kindness, as well.

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